An Iraqi “artist” who is an assistant professor at NYU plans to have a camera surgically implanted into the back of his head. Photos will stream from his noggin at one-minute intervals for a year. He calls this “art”:
The artwork, titled “The 3rd I,” is intended as “a comment on the inaccessibility of time, and the inability to capture memory and experience,” according to press materials from the museum, known as Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Mr. Bilal’s work would be among the inaugural exhibits of Mathaf, scheduled to open next month.
Because Mr. Bilal is an active professor, teaching three courses this semester and scheduled to teach this spring, his special camera could capture not just his personal activity, but also his interactions with students.
That possibility, of exposing private encounters without participants’ consent, has raised concerns among NYU administrators and faculty.
I think I’d be concerned about more than encounters with students. This is the same guy who superimposed himself in a video game as a suicide bomber stalking George Bush. He called that piece of art “Virtual Jihadi.”
So, if I have this straight, a guy who is an Iraqi, who has portrayed himself as a jihadi, is going to have a hard-to-notice camera in the back of his head, paid for by the Arab country of Qatar. If he takes a sudden urge to visit major American landmarks and military installations, I hope our TSA agents can take their hands off people’s privates long enough to check this guy out.
